The Highland charge was the shock tactic
that earned the Scottish clans of the 17th and 18th centuries a reputation as fearless
and fierce fighters. However it is best known for its somewhat disastrous use at the battle of
Culloden in 1764 which was depicted quite well recently in the TV-Series Outlander. It must be
emphasized that such popular depictions distort the reality of this tactic a little bit.
The Highland charge was not as unsuccessful as many movies or the battle of Culloden itself
might suggest. Actually, it proved to be a real challenge to the British government troops and
scored the Highlanders several victories on the battlefield. In this video, we ask what made this
tactic so effective and how exactly it worked. In a swampy area southeast of Edinburgh, an army
of the British Government confronted an army of Jacobite Scotsmen on 21 September 1745, who
decisively defeated the British forces using one of the most successful Highland charges ever. The
Jacobites were supporters of the House of Stuart, which had been the ruling family in England but
was replaced when James II of England went into exile after the Glorious Revolution. The Stuarts
lived in exile in France, trying to regain what they believed to be their throne. With this in
mind, Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, traveled to Scotland in
1745 to start a rebellion. Numerous supporters, mainly men from the Scottish Highlands, joined his
ranks and helped him capture Edinburgh, Scotland's capital, on 17 September 1745. Sir John Cope, the
commander of the government forces in Scotland, reacted quickly and marched to retake the city
and stop Charles with an army of 2,300 men and six guns. When the Jacobites came to meet him, he
positioned his troops behind a swamp south of the village of Prestonpans, ready for battle on the
next morning. However, the Highlanders did not wait until sunrise but marched around the marshy
area and approached Cope’s troops from their eastern flank. Just in time, the commander noticed
them and realigned his troops to face the attack , but his soldiers were not prepared for this and
offered little opposition to the Highland charge of the Jacobites. First, the artillery fled, then
the cavalry routed, and finally, the infantry gave in. Suffering less than 5% casualties,
the Jacobites defeated the government troops, killed about 500, and captured at least as many.
What made this quick victory possible was the psychological effect of the Highland Charge.
Being on the receiving end of such an attack was terrifying. One of the few survivors of the
Battle of Knocknanuss in November 1647 recalls that the Highlanders “came routing down like a
torrent tempestuously on our foot”. Similarly, the government troops at Prestonpans faced
a mass of seemingly mad Highlanders who ran towards the muzzles of their muskets regardless of
the consequences, frantically shouting Gaelic war cries. These examples show that the power of the
Highland charge lay less in the actual force of impact, but in the fear it inspired in the enemy.
Even experienced soldiers panicked at the sight of charging highlanders, let alone new recruits.
At Prestonpans and also at Killiecrankie in 1689, another battle often discussed in this context,
gaps opened in the enemy's lines even before the highlanders had actually made contact.
The psychological effect was, in fact, so important that there are very few instances
of a Highland Charge actually clashing with an intact enemy infantry formation. Should the enemy
stand firm, the Highlanders usually stopped just before the clash, retreated, and charged
again later. If they didn’t stop, though, a fierce melee would ensue, in which the
highlanders could easily get the short end of the deal as was, for example, the case in the
battle of Culloden about which we’ll talk in a minute. First, let’s take a quick look back.
The origins of the Highland charge are very much shrouded in myth, although many historians
reckon that the Highland clans and their Irish allies first used the tactic in the 1640s. Some
scholars, for example the military historian David Stevenson, attribute its invention to an Irish
officer named Alasdair MacColla , who allegedly developed this tactic for the specific
needs of his troops during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in 1639-1651. While this is not
conclusive, it is certain that the Highlanders had generally relied on charges for a long time, with
the Highland charge as such being an adaptation of this tradition. Before the advent of firearms,
Highlanders had relied on tight formations led by heavily armed melee fighters with battle axes and
claymores, their infamous two-handed swords. This tactic was no longer practicable in the late 16th
and 17th centuries, when arquebuses and muskets, and consequently pike and shot warfare,
spread on the British Isles. Therefore, the Highlanders adapted their methods, exchanging
their heavy axes and two-handed swords for lighter weapons such as basket-hilted broadswords,
long knives, axes, and round shields, most famously the distinctive targes. In addition, they
increasingly relied on firearms. These new weapons perfectly fit the needs of the new shock tactic
they now began to adopt: the Highland charge. Like most shock tactics, good morale was the key
element to a successful Highland charge. The men had to trust each other and their commanders, and
they had to be absolutely determined to charge at the enemy, fully aware they would face at least
one volley. Because of this, friends and family members usually fought together and formed groups
of about 12 men. Also, speed was of the essence, which is why the Highlanders usually got rid of
unnecessary clothing before battle and preferred dry, slightly descending terrain. When they were
ready to attack, the Highlanders advanced towards the enemy, fired a volley from about 40-50m, and
then started charging. Covered by the gun smoke, shouting, and clamoring, they ran forward, and
as they ran, they formed up in larger clusters, most commonly in one or more wedge formations
aiming at the weakest points in the enemy line. And if this terrifying wave of warriors "was not
enough to persuade the other side that they had urgent appointments elsewhere" , as the historian
Charles Carlton puts it, the Highlanders threw themselves onto the enemy lines to break
the formation. Just before making contact, they dropped to one knee, dove under the enemies'
weapons, parried the pike or bayonet of the man they were directly facing with their shield, and
then thrust upward at the unprotected upper body of their opponent. If they succeeded in breaking
the line, they proceeded to taking the enemy down in close combat, relying on the advantage of
their shorter weapons. The Highlanders skillfully exploited the weak spots they created by fear or
force by pushing into the formation, rolling up the unprotected flanks of neighboring units, or
going all the way to the back of the formation to stop those fleeing and cause even more chaos.
These charges by no means always went as smoothly as at Prestonpans. In the aforementioned
Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, for example, an outnumbered Jacobite army defeated
Scottish government troops by intercepting them on the pass of Killiecrankie and using the
Highland charge to break through their line, which was stretched out far to maximize firepower.
The government troops fired three deadly volleys before the Highlanders reached them, and in the
ensuing melee, the Jacobites suffered even more casualties, eventually losing about a third
of their army. One reason for the high losses the Highlanders suffered at Killiecrankie was
that their opponents were equipped with a new weapon that enabled them to defend themselves much
better against shock attacks: the plug bayonet. This bayonet functioned as a sort of half-pike
that allowed the musketeers to protect themselves when charged. Because of this, the pikemen who had
previously performed this task could be replaced with more shot units. This significantly increased
the infantry's firepower. However, the plug bayonet had a major disadvantage: it was inserted
into the musket barrel and therefore prevented shooting when mounted. Consquently, a formation
under attack could only fix the bayonets in the last minute. Because this took considerable time,
the attacking troops had a good chance of reaching them before they were ready to defend themselves.
The introduction of the plug bayonet was part of a rapid modernization of the British army
in the second half of the 17th century. Quickly the bayonet became standard infantry
equipment, the cumbersome earlier muskets were replaced with lighter flintlock muskets, and
prefabricated paper cartridges were introduced, which made reloading much easier. Towards the end
of the century, the plug bayonet was replaced by the socket bayonet, which was attached to the side
of the barrel rather than plugged into the muzzle, making it possible to shoot while it was
mounted. These changes proved a challenge to the Highlanders. To avoid the volleys from the
more efficient flintlock muskets, they often laid down on the ground after firing their volley and
let the enemy return fire. This way they were less exposed and the powder smoke got even denser,
providing additional protection. Nevertheless, the new British army made for a tough enemy,
and the Highlanders’ casualties increased. This development reached a climax in one of the
most famous battles in which the Highland charge was used, the Battle of Culloden, on 16 April
1746. This battle showed what could happen if a Highland charge clashed with a formation that
stood firm. After his victory at Prestonpans, Charles Edward Stuart had advanced into
England. However, before he had achieved anything of substance, his army began to crumble
because of internal differences until he finally had to retreat. When he learned that the
commander-in-chief of the government forces, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, was
approaching with an army of about 9,000 men, he arrayed his remaining 5,000 men at Culloden
Moor to await the pursuing army. During the night before the battle, the Jacobites
again tried a nightly assault but failed because they didn’t find Cumberland's camp
in time. So, for better or worse, they had to stay in their rather unfavorable position.
The next day, 16 April 1746, Cumberland's artillery opened the battle. This caused heavy
losses, and the Bonnie Prince had no choice but to order a direct attack. Not wanting to provide the
artillery with a target any longer than necessary, the Highlanders ran across the 500 or so yards of
boggy ground between the two armies and charged Cumberlandd’s men in three groups. When they
closed in the British switched to canister shot, shotgun rounds for artillery, which caused heavy
losses even before they reached the British line and slowed down the center. To avoid the boggy
terrain in front of them they veered to the right. Meanwhile, the groups on the left and
right made contact with the British infantry, who had specifically been instructed to endure
the charge and not leave their position. On the entire frontline, Cumberland’s men thrust at the
enemy to their right instead of the one straight ahead to avoid the Highlanders’ targes. This was
quite effective and the Highlanders on the left eventually had to retreat when Cumberland's
cavalry counterattacked. The group on the right wing, however, managed to break through the
first line after a bloody struggle but were pushed back by a regiment advancing from the second
line before they could exploit their victory. This was problematic because the Jacobite center
had joined them to exploit the weak spot there, and now both were caught in the crossfire of the
government forces. In less than half an hour, nearly 50% of the men who had participated in
the Highland charge had fallen and Cumberland's cavalry massacred hundreds more as
they tried to flee the battlefield. Despite this devastating defeat, the Highland
charge remained in use for several decades after Culloden. However, as firearms improved
even further, it involved ever more risk. This became clear in what was allegedly the last
Highland charge, which took place during the battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in 1776 during
the American Revolutionary War. In this battle, about 1,000 Highlanders in the service of
the English crown charged an equal force who had entrenched themselves on a bridge.
They were mercilessly shot to pieces.
